7.25.2011

Les pistes cyclables font grimper le prix des maisons

Source: Protegez-vous.ca

Cent mille dollars de plus. C’est ce qu’a réussi à obtenir Don Watson­, un entrepreneur général qui a vendu une résidence de luxe sur la rue Bourke, à Sydney, en Australie. La raison prin­ci­pale ? La rue fait partie du nouveau réseau de pistes cyclables de la métropole australienne.

Ça ne semble pas un cas isolé. Une étude réalisée en 2006 à l’Université du Delaware a montré que, dans cet État américain, les maisons situées près des pistes cyclables valaient en moyenne 8 800 $US de plus que les autres. Selon le conglomérat australien Fairfax Media, qui signalait les résultats de cette étude en avril 2011, des courtiers immobiliers ont rapporté un phénomène si­mi­laire en Caroline du Nord, où une quarantaine de maisons situées en bordure de la piste cyclable de Shepherd’s Vineyard se sont vendues 5 000 $US de plus grâce à cet argument de vente.

Pédaler ne serait donc pas juste bon pour les mollets, mais aussi pour le porte-monnaie!

7.13.2011

NB Motor Vehicle Act – Bicycle section

BICYCLES:

176 Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway has all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this Act, except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application.
1955, c.13, s.158.
177 (1) A person propelling a bicycle shall not ride other than upon or astride a permanent and regular seat attached thereto.
177 (2) No person shall use a bicycle to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it was designed or equipped.
177 (3) No person shall ride on or operate a bicycle on a highway unless the person is wearing a bicycle helmet in accordance with the regulations and the chin strap of the helmet is securely fastened under the person’s chin.
177 (4) No parent or guardian of a person who is under sixteen years of age shall authorize or knowingly permit that person to ride on or operate a bicycle on a highway unless the person is wearing a helmet in accordance with subsection (3).
177 (4.1) A person sixteen years of age or older who violates or fails to comply with subsection (3) or (4) commits an offence.
177 (4.2) The minimum and the maximum fine that may be imposed on a person convicted of an offence under subsection (3) or (4) shall be twenty-one dollars.

More

Bicycle lanes for the rest of us


Source: Ottawa Citizen, July 11, 2011

OTTAWA — Late Saturday night, city workers swept Laurier Avenue, peeled temporary paper covers off road signs, and removed dozens of construction barrels that have been doing only a so-so job of keeping eager cyclists off the segregated bike lane running east and west through downtown.

“We’re well behind. It’s time for Ontario to catch up,” says Mona Abouhenidy, a strategic transportation planner for the city. She and Alex Culley, another transportation planner, took the Citizen on a tour of the lane’s seven-block length between Bronson Avenue and Elgin Street this week.

The city’s mission is to make commuter cycling appeal to recreational cyclists — people who are happy to bike for fun and maybe for errands in their own neighbourhoods, but who balk at risking their necks downtown.

“They say, ‘I’m not going in traffic,’ ” Abouhenidy says. So the goal of the lane is to “provide a similar experience to being on a pathway while being on a road.” They’ll be happy to have anyone use it, but it’s not designed for the spandexed warriors comfortable winding their way around buses and taxis and delivery trucks.

More

7.05.2011

11 most bicycle friendly cities in the world

1. Amsterdam, Netherlands
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Copenhagen, Denmark
4. Boulder, Colorado
5. Davis, California
6. Sandnes, Norway
7. Trondheim, Norway
8. San Francisco, California
9. Berlin, Germany
10. Barcelona, Spain
11. Basel, Switzerland
.
.
? Greater Moncton, Canada

More here

7.02.2011

Local food movement goes national

Source: Globe & Mail, Sat July 2, 2011

Local food is going national in Canada.

Driving the movement is Lori Stahlbrand, a journalist-turned-food-advocate who has spent the last six years and several million donor dollars animating her dream of creating an alternative food system that stars environmentally- and animal-friendly Canadian farmers.

Ms. Stahlbrand’s first building block was creating Local Food Plus, a non-profit that issues its private certification to progressive farmers who conform to the tough set of sustainability and production standards written for the agency by a crack team of agricultural and environmental experts. The agency then helps link certified farmers with local buyers who would not have made the connections alone, providing critical strength to the local and regional supply chain.

“We were losing our ability to feed ourselves,” Ms. Stahlbrand said. “What we’re trying to do is build a different kind of food system. We’ve built the flywheel. Now it’s starting to turn.”

More

7.01.2011

How to build community

Text by Syracuse Cultural Workers (SCW Community)

Turn off your TV
Leave your house
Know your neighbors
Greet people
Sit on your stoop
Plant flowers
Use your library
Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Honor elders
Support neighborhood schools
Fix it even if you didn't break it
Have pot lucks
Garden together
Pick up litter
Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds
Put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition
Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
As for help when you need it
Open your shades
Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music...turn down the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and concomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard
Work to change this
Bike to work (PCGM's modest contribution to this list)